Your Opinion: Sanders' "free lunch'

Dear Editor:

The pablum being fed to Bernie Sanders groupies is that he will tax the rich and give them free stuff. In reality he will increase taxes on everyone.

Bernie supports a 0.2 percent payroll tax on everyone who works, to pay for his free family leave plan. Bernie supports a 6.2 percent payroll tax on everyone who works and a 2.2 percent health care premium calculated under rules for federal income taxes to pay for his Medicare-for-all plan.

In the mid-1930s the massive income redistribution scheme called Social Security was foisted on us by those in D.C. I'm sure it was sold with the argument that it would be free money for all and that the payroll tax rate would be small, 2 percent on the first $3,000 of earnings. As we became desensitized to the tax it grew. It is currently 12.4 percent on $118,500, a 1,500 percent increase, after adjusting for inflation.

In the mid 1960s Medicare, another massive income redistribution scheme was foisted on us. It was sold as nearly free health care for seniors. It would be funded with a small payroll tax, 0.7 percent. The rate has now grown to 2.9 percent, an increase of over 400 percent.

Bernie's proposal to add another 6.4 percent on top of the current payroll taxes would mean that the feds would take the first 21.7 percent of every dollar earned. On top of that they would still be collecting income tax, fuel taxes, excise taxes, taxes on business that get passed through in the cost of products and on and on. After that state and local government would get their slices of our wages.

The feds take 12.4 percent of everything you make with the promise of a pitiful monthly Social Security check. They take an additional 2.9 percent of what you earn with the promise of health care after retirement. Even the modest level of coverage provided by Medicare Parts A and B cost a retired couple nearly $3,000 per year. My wife and I pay another $2,500 for additional coverage, and we still have deductibles and co-pays.

The federal government already costs us over $30,000 annually for every household. If you add in the cost of state and local government the fair share cost of government increases to $50,000 per year per household, a 220 percent increase from 1960. How much more free government help can we afford?